Questioning Everything
by tickledGreen
Summary: What do you do when you screw up a friendship? Simple, run or at least that's Hinamori's approach. Unluckily for her, she's forced to switch battle plans when nosey friends intervene. Yet nothing makes sense to her when Hitsugaya seems to agree with them
1. Chapter 1, Constant Weather

"It looks like it's going to rain"

"Huh?" the shinigami who had been nagging Hinamori about paperwork had nearly dropped all of his papers and had to catch himself at the last minute. Ever since the unspeakable war, Hinamori had been abnormally quiet or had the oddest random moments that still left the other shinigami questioning her sanity. But it was no question that she was still the best soul in soul society qualified for 5th division vice captain. That and Ichigo, who had become the captain for the 5th division after he helped to defeat Aizen, refused to have any other vice captain besides little Hinamori. Who were they to refuse the guy who saved them all?

"How can it rain? It's almost winter, and it rarely rains in soul society anyways. Not to mention it's sunny out." The poor shinigami must've looked comical with his work things hazardously close from falling all together and a look on his face that would seem like Hinamori had told him that dust bunnies would fall from the sky and do the hokey pokey instead of her nonchalant statement about the rain.

Hinamori took one look at the confused shinigami before her and mentally sighed. "I'll do the paperwork, after I come in. I'll just be a minute longer, don't worry." She gave him a small smile that completely washed away any doubt that still harbored in him, and after a crisp nod, he rushed in the office, papers falling after him as he muttered something about the cold.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Hinamori let the smile slide away and once again turned to the sky, an empty look on her face. Yes, it has been years since the war, since she had once smiled carelessly daily and spoke openly to any shinigami that would cross her path. Since… she had last spoken to Hitsugaya. That last though practically gripped her heart and slowly squeezed it into oblivion. She maneuvered her feet, which had been swinging carelessly beneath her, in front of herself, hands gripping her around her knees, in a defensive way. Heart beating and on the brink of tears, she began to remember every moment she had ever shared with Shiro, her Shiro. She stopped then, stopped remembering and started recalling that last thought. No, he wasn't her Shiro anymore, not since she abandoned him and betrayed them all. Maybe not physically or completely, but once she woke up all she could ever think about was still Aizen. About how he wasn't the one who was at fault. She even abandoned her job and division in the fatal time they needed her the most. It was those things that took away any right she had to call him hers, or call any of them her friends. She didn't even deserve the second chance she got from Ichigo and Rukia.

Finally the tears she had been fighting, and any guard she had kept up, gave way as a lone tear trickled down her cold cheek. That got her alert of her dark thoughts of the past. She quickly began to pick up her broken thoughts and lock away anything left of the past. After all, if it was too hard to remember you past, forget it. Right? Shaking her head, Hinamori looked up to the sun that betrayed her dreary mood and quickly destroyed all the evidence of crying. It hurt, even the mention of _his_ name made her heart ache and her head spin. If it was this big of an effect on her, then what was she to do? Seeing him in person was hard enough with all the awkward looks and trying to mask her tears was mission impossible. Bottom line, she's weak. She doesn't want to be, but it's not like not wanting to be something changes anything. What's a girl to do when she's hurt anyone she ever loved? Forget; pretend like it never happened, like even the word past doesn't exist. It may be the cowards' way, but it's her only way. Or else, she'll just end up hurting them all again.

"Hinamori!" the young shinigami's voice drifted into the tranquil autumn's day disrupting any of her already broken thoughts. Mask back in place, Hinamori took her and her now shinning smile and climbed to her feet walking softly to the door. Her voice managed to sound calm and gentle unlike her last mental outburst a moment ago "Coming!"

She couldn't hurt anyone else. It was one thing that she couldn't risk.

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Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Toushiro Hitsugaya sighed at the work on his desk, and turned towards the open window. The tranquil rain made peaceful noises that were never heard in winter. They calmed him down from his agitated mood that he hadn't been able to throw off since that morning. After nearly 20 minutes of the rain therapy, everything was interrupted with a loud bang of the door opening behind him.

"YO! Hitsugaya! What are you doing all in your little corner there!" a half drunk Matsumoto could manage to disrupt any peace, hell, a sober Matsumoto could manage that fine, but Hitsugaya still refused to give in to her loud, attention grabbing self. However it was a futile attempt, especially since she was literally inches away giggling at his sour puss face. "Hehe, if you scrunch your eyebrows any further," she hiccupped, "you'll have a uni-brow." He didn't seem amused at her drunken breath or immature speak and his features darkened, if it was possible. A smothered giggle was heard behind the two and Matsumoto immediately took a dramatic step backwards, allowing Hitsugaya to see his office behind her, and spoke in a louder voice than necessary. "See? Aya agrees with me!"

Said girl failed again at her attempt of trying to smoother any laughs. Her long, elbow length, reddish brown, slightly wavy, hair fell over a shaking shoulder, as she finally gave up and started to laugh to her hearts content. Silver eyes danced with merit and her lips gave way to a giant smile that warmed her heart shaped face. There was little doubt in any shinigami's mind that Ayaka Tsukino, 5th seat in the 10th division, was beautiful. Maybe not stunning, like Matsumoto, but she's definitely above pretty or cute. There was an argument that caught Hitsugaya's attention earlier on in the 10th division where some shinigami were fighting about if Ayaka was prettier that Hinamori. The very fact that they would compare the two sent Hitsugaya off in a deadly mode and as he neared he heard someone suggest that Ayaka has replaced Hinamori in his heart. Needless to say he had given them the worst look of their lives that would probably still haunt them in their nightmares for future years.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice that Matsumoto had spoke to him. He gave her a raised eyebrow and she dramatically sighed. "I asked you what you where doing here all alone, and you never answered!" her voice made it seem like she was talking to a five year old, appose to her boss. Hitsugaya choose to ignore her tone of voice as he turned back to his window. "It's raining" he stated simply, in a calm voice that seemed to make sense of everything. Although to Ayaka, it seemed like one big question without an answer. Oddly enough, Matsumoto seemed to understand the deeper meaning, and sobered up in the span of two seconds. "Oh? That seems odd this late in the season." An almost motherly smile fell on her features. After a slow nod and one last look at the window, Hitsugaya turned towards the two girls with his usual cold air around him. The weird moment behind them, he spoke in his normal bored drawl, "Matsumoto, do I have to remind you again (for the 39th time today) that unless you finish your paper work soon your desk will collapse under the weight?" Matsumoto gave a thoughtful look and opened her mouth to speak a moment later. "Rhetorical question." Hitsugaya interrupted. Turning to the smaller girl he spoke colder to her than normally, "Tsukino." He paused, turning back to the window. Looking at her from the corner of his eye, the young girl tried to appear confident but under his gaze her mask started to slip. "Get back to work."

With that said, Matsumoto began to walk cheerfully back to her desk, clearly drunk again, and Ayaka disappointedly walked out of the office as slowly as she could manage. All of this was oblivious to Hitsugaya, who had once again turned to the window, gazing out with a thoughtful, almost sad, expression on his face. He had remembered how one girl had commented about the rain being amazing and dragged him out of his home to dance with her in the cold water. When asked why she simply smiled a smile that twisted his stomach and jumbled his thoughts. "Because," she said "were rejoicing for the flowers!" His right hand separated the outside world with himself by pulling a little wooden plank towards him, closing the window. Amazingly, all memories of the girl in the rain stopped instantly. Turning away from the window he returned to his desk, one thought left in his mind. "How could I replace a girl like that?"

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It had been a stressful day at the office tonight. With some stupid misfile and an obsessively annoying subordinate of his freaking out and waving his arms around in a way that suspiciously looked like the dance his dad used to do. And since Rukia had banned him from physically harming anything that would cross his path for the next two weeks (as some stupid "anger management" technique) everything just seemed more nerve wracking. He had long since awaited coming home and just plopping down on his fluffy bed and not moving until dinner.

Unfortunately for him, his _lovely_ wife destroyed his plans since she had started to bug him ever since he had gotten home. He had tried using a pillow to drown out her obsessive chatter but when that didn't work, he contemplated using the pillow directly on her. That would certainly solve that problem. However, before he could work out the kinks in his plan, he was punched in the arm by his wife.

"Have you listened to a **word** I've said, Ichigo?" Lifting his head from his pillow, he gave her a "are you kidding me" look and once again earned himself a punch. His left eye gave a considerably nice looking twitch, however Rukia gave it no attention as she began her rant all over again.

"Hinamori! Have you forgotten about your own vice captain that fast!" Glaring at her, he managed to look as dignified as someone can with a pout.

"My memory isn't _that_ bad!" It was her turn to give him the un-approving look.

"You forgot we were married one day and tossed me out of bed." Her deadpan voice gave little room for argument, however that didn't stop him. "It was a big shock!" he claimed with a sour puss look of his own.

Rukia raised one eyebrow this time, an amused look on her face. "It was nine months after our marriage.

Glaring once again, Ichigo flopped down on the bed and continued to get comfortable in the fluffy mess of blankets and pillows. "So what about Hinamori?" he asked, yawing. She leaned against his figure, her back to his chest, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her lithe figure. "She hasn't been herself." She managed to mutter in a sad voice.

His eyebrows furrowed and he started to make circles with his thumb on her arm. "She seems fine at the office." A sigh escaped his wife's lips as she relaxed against him. "You're a guy, of course you wouldn't notice."

"Not all guys are clueless." He replied his voice slightly muffled from her hair. She smirked. "I'm not counting Ishida" Grumbling for a moment, he sighed getting somewhat serious, after all it did involve his vice captain. "Care to explain?"

After a long pause, Rukias soft voice (unlike her usual loud one, Ichigo thought) drifted into the spacious room. "She's been distant, ever since the war. You've never known her before, but the few times I met her, she was so kind that she would instantly dissolve any ones bad mood." She paused again, seemingly lost in memory. "I remember smiling for no reason, other than the fact that she was smiling." She heaved a long sigh.

"If she was really like that, then I could understand why you'd be shocked at her change." He thought back to the quiet girl with the sad smile back in his office. Frowning he held his wife slightly tighter, mentally praying that Rukia would never turn out like the current Hinamori. Rukia shifted slightly, so she could look Ichigo in the eye. "So what are we going to do?"

It was the question that they were both wondering, but as Ichigo's stomach grumbled loudly their thoughts were disrupted. It took three seconds until Rukia's laugh filled Ichigo's ears. She quickly jumped off the bed and headed towards the door. Still laughing she made her way to the kitchen. He smiled the smile that he reserved for Rukia alone, and laid back down on the bed and wondered just how they were going to help his quiet vice captain. However as a loud crash came from the kitchen, he deserted any attempt at sleeping to make sure his wife didn't burn down their house.


	2. Chapter 2, Recruitment

**Chapter 2 - Recruitment**

Two peaceful weeks went by without any mention of the Hinamori situation. Ichigo tried to help, he really did, but no matter how many hours he spent sitting in his swingy chair, pondering what he could do for Hinamori, he only managed to come up with the thought that lightening her work load might make her more cheerful. Unfortunately due to many hours of thinking of what to do and not working, his own stack of paperwork was becoming unbearable, and if he let her go work free now, the whole division would be left in a state of chaos for months.

Meanwhile, unlike her husband, Rukia not only spent hours thinking about how to cure Hinamori from her blue mood, but instead brainstormed for days. Not one day went by without Rukia interrupting herself mid sentence to burst out in cries of ideas that no one understood. Ichigo managed to catch her half yelling at a shinigami, crying "That would NEVER work!" over and over again after he had run into her into the hall. The poor thing was left in a bed in division 4 for days after Ichigo had to pry Rukia away from beating the poor thing to death in self aggravation.

So here it was, weeks later without a word exchanged over Ichigo's adorable vice-captain, when Ichigo was regretful to admit that nearly nothing could be done. Respectively, Ichigo had successfully settled into bed away from another day of tiresome work dealing with idiotic interns who messed up almost all of his finished and signed documents, and managed to wrestle the covers away from his lovely wife, when said sheets were pulled from under him, hurtling him off the bed.

He shot up right away and tackled his moronic wife who stole his bed sheets, tumbling around the floor with her until she lied on her back with him holding her down.

"What the HELL is WRONG with you, woman!" Ichigo glared at his love, looking like he was about ready to eat her face off when she caught him off guard by smiling. He felt an unsettling weight of doom settle in his stomach right before she punched his face.

"GAH! You blinded me!" He cradled his left eye in pain while watching her skip out of the room. This crazy woman barges in, interrupts his sleep, tries to beat him up, and then she has the nerve to skip away giggling like mad? Ichigo stormed out of his bed room, ran, taking two steps at a time towards the study where breaking noises were emerging from and burst open the door. Revenge was the only thing on his mind.

"Oh Ichigo, don't just stand there in the doorway, come here and help me," looking up from her place, messing up the desk, Rukia shot Ichigo an exasperated look.

"Help you…" if there was one thing she could've said to make the situation better, this was not it. "Help you after you BEAT ME UP FOR NO REASON?" he said, poking her in the forehead after every word. His glare intensified. "Why the HELL would I do that!"

The stunned girl was blinking up at her hubby, all in perfect knowledge that he was unable to resist her wide eyes. "Ichigo, you know I'd never do that without a reason! I was just excited." A few more seconds of this cute torture and he would cave and be a good slave and help her find a pen that worked.

He broke away from her, a stony look on his face. "Rukia, that look _never_ worked on me, no matter what you might think." She dropped the cute look and frowned.

She started rummaging around the desk again, hazardously throwing everything out of her way. "Oh come off it, you're just angry that now you have to explain to everyone that your wife beat you up again."

Damn it, how did she know! After one final deadly look, Ichigo walked over to her side, sighing all the way. Once he allowed an awkward hiatus to pass between them, he spoke again. "… What are you excited about anyway?"

Rukia's eyes gleamed up at Ichigo for a 2nd time that night as she spun around. Excitement dripped out of her voice as she giggled, "I had an epiphany." Her smile softened as she turned her body around, never breaking eye contact. "I know what we have to do with Hinamori."

Widening his eyes in surprise, Ichigo grasped her by the shoulders and shook her intently. "Spit it out already, damned woman!"

She merely gave him a look that lacked amusement as she flicked away his hands, focusing her attention back to the desk. After a joyful cry of finding a working pen, she sat down, motioning for Ichigo to come closer and read over her shoulder. After a few sentences, his face paled in realization as his head started to move back and forth. It was at the third paragraph that he finally snapped.

"No... No way. Are you out of your blasted MIND?"

XOXOXO

"What's this?" The vice-captain stared at the paper before him barely making out the chicken scratch words written down. He massaged the back of the head with his free arm; he stood there for a moment trying to decipher the letters on the page. Crunching his eyes together in confusion, he spoke after several minutes. "Who the hell wrote this unreadable garbage?"

The girl in front of him glared and spoke in a deadly tone, her tight smile set in place. "Do you have a problem with my writing, Renji?"

Renji lowered the paper and looked at Rukia in the eyes with a stoic expression. "Yes."

"OW, you BITCH!" A second later he was sporting a large bruise on the side of his head he was rubbing moments before. "Wrong answer," blabbed a chuckle from behind the tiny girl, breaking the silence from his whimpers of pain. Renji scowled at the captain behind Rukia, "So you've been trained to know right from wrong by your wife. Whipped so soon, Ichigo? Looks like I win that bet." The red haired giant made extra whipping sound effects to prove his point.

Ichigo exchanged a dirty look with 6th division's second ranked member. "I'm not the one nursing a wound from a girl half my height." Ichigo replied, smirking at the large bump appearing at the side of Renji's head.

"Then where did you get that nice shiner from, eh?" Renji asked smiling.

"Well, at least I don't have a complex with Rukia's brother, you red hair dye accident-"

Rukia stepped in between the two. "You both better stop talking before I make sure that it's impossible for you to anymore." She spent her time giving the two of them an equally ugly glower. "Ever."

"Like I'd be intimidated by weakling like-"

"I'm no push over, like your ugly husband who-"

The girl pulled a hand up to interrupt the two. "Save it for a time when I can pretend to care." She slowly lowered her hand giving Renji a look full of seriousness.

"This is about Hinamori."

Subconsciously the fire coloured hair of spikes boy straightened his already tall frame, as his eyes softened, then hardened the next second. "Look, we all know that she's been depressed, but I honestly don't know-"

Rukia cleared her throat, pulling the piece of paper in front of her vision, she began to read.

"Dear listener." She glared at Renji's unimpressed look at her opening sentence. "You have been informed for some time now of the situation of Momo Hinamori. It is has been evident that something must be done in order for her emotional balance to be restored to its original state." She glanced up Renji now, not bothering to read off of the paper for the next sentence.

"What if we could be that something?"

XOXOXO

Rukia glanced up at a, astonishingly enough, sober Matsumoto, who smiled back at the younger looking woman.

"And how would be do this, exactly?" The orange haired beauty inquired, stretching her curvaceous figure out against the wooden hallway, ignoring the longing looks of the shinigami passing by.

The shorter girl exposed a dangerous smile as she lowered her letter again, "I ask you this: who is the one person that Hinamori cares for most of all?"

Matsumoto exchanged another devious grin as she emptied another shot of alcohol down her throat. "Toushiro Hitsugaya, of course."

Rukia gave a sigh of relief. "Thank God that you think so too. You have no idea what Renji looked like when I told him that."

XOXOXO

"Oh no, I think I could imagine Renji's look. Does it look anything like mine?!" Looking into the one eye she could see, Rukia gave Kira an annoyed stare.

"Are all men oblivious?" She pierced the blue eyed man with a glare that showed only wariness. "Look, just clear out that dumfounded look on your face and listen, alright?"

The purple-blue eyes followed the lines on the letter in her hand again, trying to find the right place. Rukia's glower softened when she found the right place. "Who has known Hinamori the longest in Gotei 13? Who was her beloved friend growing up in the countryside? Who did she turn against and mourns over every day?"

Rukia looked up at the tall man; she used her more gentle tone. "I know you know all of this, but try to think about her feelings in all of this. Who do you think Hinamori thinks of when she's staring out at the rain? Everything reminds her of him and in her opinion, she committed the worst crime possible, she turned her back on everything that mattered to him; their friendship."

After the look of comprehension glittered in Kira's eye, he looked away, debating these questions over in his mind. Rukia gave him a half smile he missed as she whispered loud enough only for him to hear. "And in my opinion it wasn't just friendship to him."

XOXOXO

The dark haired woman quietly sipped her tea, thanking God for the soothing liquid after her numerous talks. After her satisfying drink, she turned to the people across from her.

"I always knew he loved her!" Orihime cried delightfully, giggling up at her friend. Ishida sighed looking back at her. "You were completely confused about it until after Rukia explained it all."

Orihime pouted, "Okay, so you're right. But it still doesn't make it any less cute. You can't know a person for that long and not feel something towards them!" She gushed again; missing a very obvious look pointed her way. "What else does the letter say, Mrs. Kurosaki?"

Rukia had the decency to flush, as she busied herself with pouring more tea. "Orihime, please, what do I have to do to make you stop referring to me by that?"

Orihime ignored her embarrassed look and stared intently into the other woman's eyes. "Finishing the letter would help!"

XOXOXO

"The plan is simple. Fix those two up with each other."

Yachiru gasped dramatically from her place fixing ribbons in Kenpachi's hair.

"You mean like a DATE?"

Rukia shifted, wondering how she could explain this to the girl. "Kind of… but more like a long term date." After switching her eye contact from the confused pink one's to Kenpachi, she spoke again. "Or at least get them to talk to one another again. That would at least be necessary in this mission."

Kenpachi put down his vice-captain as he grinned at Rukia. "As long as it makes Hitsugaya interesting to fight again, I don't care how we do it." His smile grew in thought as he finished, "Although maybe loosing her all together would be create a more interesting power surge in that kid."

Yachiru pouted at Kenpachi, "No way! They have to date forever! That's the plan, Ken!"

Kenpachi smiled down at the girl, "as long as the job gets done, doesn't matter how; just putting that option on the table." Turning to Rukia again, he asked, a dangerous glint in his eye, "Who's in on it?"

Rukia arose from her place on the floor, "Over 15 people are informed. All of which cannot be disclosed now." She made silent strides towards the exit, making sure to stop in front of the sliding door. "The first meeting is tonight, at quarter past 11, in the 13th division's Captain's room." She opened the door enough to slide out, "Don't be late; or followed." Closing the door behind her, she met up with the Orange haired man a few feet away.

"And you said they would all laugh." Rukia chuckled to herself in disbelief to her husband. "Half of them did," he retaliated, glancing at her from the corners of his golden gaze. Rukia rolled her eyes and continued on her walk. "5 people don't count."

"You forgot about Shunsui and your brother."

She sighed. "Shunsui was probably drunk, he doesn't count. And brother didn't laugh."

Ichigo paused in mid-stride to ponder this. "Yes, however that look of shock was probably the closet thing he can get to laughter."

It was Rukia's turn to freeze as she turned to give Ichigo the one eyebrow salute. "You do realize that his eyes widened for less then half a second."

"Yes, however that's his way of expressing shock." His wife chortled softly, while rubbing the space between her eyes. The cold air hit her as the two made their way through the court yard. "You think you have my brother all sorted out, hmm?"

Ichigo smiled as he glanced at his vice-captain in the distance, being lectured again for not paying attention and going outside. He saw the slight curve of her lips in her version of a smile, and started wondering what it would look like enlarged. "Just like how you think you've got Hinamori and Hitsugaya figured out."

Ichigo turned to his wife, brushing her hair behind her shoulders, sighing contently as they walked against the autumn's breeze. "Let's just hope you're right."


	3. Chapter 3, Routine

**Chapter 3: Routine **

The desk in front of Hinamori was spotless. Every information form was filled out and arranged in their correct place on the spotless desk. Any pen in sight was in its corresponding area. The shelves around the desk were so organized they looked as if they didn't know how to be dirty. The windows were closed and no echo could be heard from outside the paper thin walls. Everything in the room was picture perfect and Hinamori realized that something was horribly wrong.

Hesitantly, Hinamori pushed back her chair and stood up, looking around the barren room. Timid eyes gazed around the room, her body helplessly following her pupils circling the room from every angle. The short girl blinked twice. True that everything was in its place, but that was perhaps what scared her the most. She took a step to the side of her desk, hand guiding her to the front of the wooden hunk, eyes locked with the door. Around 10:17 every morning, Ichigo would slam the wooden frame of the door to one side mercilessly, yawn, groan about his wife for good 4 seconds until he realized that his vice-captain was staring at him, smile sheepishly and great her a good morning. It was now 10:23.

The dark haired girl slumped against the desk, letting her hands support her weight against the cool wood and closed her eyes. She sighed. She didn't mean to sound whiney, but it was routine! Ichigo _never_ forgot to come in 10:17 at the latest. Even if he overslept he would come rushing in, mumbling something regarding Rukia and a frying pan aimed at somewhere too painful for any male to suffer the thought of. There was this one time where he came in 3 seconds away from 10:18 because he'd ran into a group of a dozen walking shinigami and managed to evade running into one, but other than that, he always came in exactly on time. She repeated a sigh. Something was wrong.

She turned away from the door and walked towards the closed window. Her fingers rested on the frame, seconds away from opening the panels to see the view beyond, until she noticed it. Other than an odd bird or two singing a love song to the sky, there was no sound from outside. Her brows furrowed together. Always after Ichigo came barging in he'd complain about the room being stuffy and order her to open the window, and continue to whine about the noise from outside two minutes later. But this time Hinamori was so close she could hear everything outside the frail window, and there wasn't much she could hear.

There was _always_ noise coming out from outside. It was as dependable as Ichigo coming in exactly on time, day after day. She closed her eyes and opens the window, just in case. In case she's going deaf and just can't hear the obvious voices from behind the window, incase its day lights saving time and she forgot. In case she wasn't going crazy, and her routine is back to normal. She opened her eyes and no one was there. There was no loud argument echoing from all directions, no giggles from gossiping girls; no noise at all. Her hands clutched the edge of the windows doors. Okay something wasn't just wrong. It was horribly wrong. It was so wrong, that there weren't enough adjectives to describe how wrong it felt. Even her own nagging assistant wasn't anywhere to be found, that's how wrong she knew it was.

BAM. The door opened and Hinamori screamed. And then something screamed behind her. Hinamori closed her eyes, trying to adjust her heart beat. Okay, first off that voice was too feminine to be Ichigo's and the door bang was too loud to be his touch either. Turning around and praying that she wasn't going to be attacked by Yachiru giggling about playing horsy again, Hinamori locked eyes with purple-blue eyes that glittered. That alone was creepy. Maybe not as creepy as being made to run laps around the Gotei 13 with a cackling kid on your back, but a lot creepier than normal Rukia. For instance, normal Rukia's eyes_didn't_ glitter. Chuckle and chortle, perhaps, but glittering wasn't something they did. Especially to Hinamori.

"Why… did you scream Rukia?" It wasn't the question that Hinamori wanted to ask. Maybe the better question would be something along the lines of: "What are you doing here?" or "Did you finally murder your husband and now need help burying his body?" But it was the first thing she blurted out and now she clutched the cloth by her heart and wondered if Rukia was coming for the lieutenant now that the captain was gone.

"…Why? B-because you screamed first!" Rukia stumbled over her words as she pointed an accusing finger at the shorter girl, her brow twitching nervously.

Hinamori cheeks flushed. "O-only because you opened the door so violently!" She hesitated for a moment. "Why are you here anyway, Rukia?" She gulped before asking the next question. "…And… Where's Ichigo?"

Rukia seemed startled for a moment. She closed her eyes and composed herself briefly before opening her eyes and sending a sweet smile Hinamori's way. Hinamori gulped.

"Don't worry where Ichigo is, its fine," Rukia's smile grew. "I just came by to ask a favor." Hinamori was preparing herself to tell Rukia that she wouldn't help her bury her husband's dead corpse when Rukia pulled out a folder from behind her back.

"Can you deliver this to Matsumoto?" Rukia's mega-watt smile met with Hinamori's blank face.

"…Huh?" Momo's one syllable echoed in the large room.

Rukia's grin slipped for a moment before she arranged it back in place. "I asked Ichigo if he could go do me a favor, that's why he's not here. But he mentioned that he needed to get this folder to Matusmoto as soon as possible." She took a step forward, thrusting the folder under Momo's nose. "That's why I'd like to know if you could do me this favor and bring it to her."

Hinamori looked from the tan folder to Rukia's joyful face, back to the papers in her hand. "But, if Ichigo needed them to get to Matsumoto right away… Why didn't you just deliver them?"

Rukia stumbled and mentally cursed herself. It was such a logical question, why didn't she think of that earlier! Oh, there was no time to curse anyone, let alone herself. Rukia needed to lie; a quick lie!

"Because…" she dragged out the word, looking around the room for the right answer. Hurry, she needed a good lie! Her eyes lit up with an idea as she quickly shoved the folder into Hinamori's hands and opened the door to Ichigo's office. "Because he needed me to deliver him… his…" She quickly crossed the room and reached under his desk and yanked out the first thing her fingers touched.

"His pillow?" Hinamori asked, clearly confused. Why would Ichigo need a pillow? What kind of errand was he running? And she knew she wasn't going crazy when she heard all those snores when he claimed he was doing his "personal thinking" time.

"Yes! …. His pillow." Ichigo, you idiot! This is the karma she got for marrying an idiot who keeps a pillow under his desk. "Of course he needs a pillow… Now just run along with that folder now, okay dear?" Rukia pushed the girl out of the room, falling apart at the seams. Just get her out of the door then it'll all be over. "Don't worry about a thing in that pretty little head of yours, just go on and give that to Matsumoto alright? No one else, just wait for her there! Make sure to hand it to her alone. I think she's in her division's office, now go run along now, go on, get!"

Hinamori didn't exactly believe all of the words coming out of Rukia's mouth, and although the sentences didn't make sense, she attentively walked out that door, looking over her shoulder briefly to get a glimpse of Rukia waving erratically back at her, sprouting her 20-watt smile. Momo waved back half heartedly as she turned around and walked faster in the direction to the 10th division. At this point, Momo would do anything to get away from that creepy grin. She shuddered and walked faster.

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Rukia opened the supply closet a 6 feet away from the 5th division headquarters and squinted into the shadows below. She closed the door behind her and clicked on the light bulb a few inches away from her head, instantly illuminating the room.

Rukia smiled. "You see? The plan worked out beautifully due to my majestic acting skills," she bragged before glowering at her husband. "No thanks to you."

"HMMMmmm!!" The pitiful muffled sound was the only thing that could be heard from underneath the duck tape covering Ichigo's mouth. The chair he was in shook back and forth as the duck tape kept him safely attached in place.

"Now, now dear, you really shouldn't' do that, you'll tip the chair over." She carelessly inspected her nails as she shifted her gaze from her husband to her chipped nail. "And you really banged up my nails with all of your struggling earlier." She looked at him again, an obvious vein popping out from her forehead. "Maybe I should get my revenge, hm dear?"

Ichigo immediately stopped his muffled protests to glare at his beloved. However instantly more outraged muffled sounds came from the duck taped sack of mass behind the chair Ichigo was taped to.

Rukia's left eye did an ungraceful twitch. "Now you should just shut up." However Hinamori's assistant began to wiggle more and more as he cried out from underneath the grey adhesive restraint. "Or do you want me to come over there?" Her voice was a semitone darker as she glowered towards the young shinigami. His muffled sounds began to resemble those of whimpering puppies as Rukia sent him a smile that chilled his bones.

"Well, I should meet up with Rangiku now, to review the current situation." She chirped towards the two of them. Turning towards the door, she paused and looked back.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Here you go, Ichigo! You're pillow!" With that the fluffy mass was hurtled towards Ichigo's head, tipping him over and landing him on his back and on the now squealing assistant. Rukia blew a kiss to her husband before turning off the light.

"Thanks for your help earlier, dearest husband!" She left them after her sarcastic remark and then shut the door, leaving the two men in the dark with nothing to listen to other than the deafening laughter of the horrifying Rukia Kurosaki.

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It didn't hit Hinamori that going into the 10th division office meant seeing Hitsugaya. Maybe it was the result of not seeing him for so long, that it became part of her precious routine to avoid anything to do with Toshiro. Not that she had any right whatsoever to call him by his name at all, let alone his first name, but whatever she called him; she didn't expect to see him again. The thing was, although she thought about him daily, every moment she had to herself, in fact, she never thought that she'd see him again.

It wasn't just the naive little girl talking here, thinking that she'd never lay eyes on Toshiro Hitsugaya again; it was just because she had evidence that he avoided her. In her overactive little mind, she remembered every time she'd gone to the 10th division on a mission like this, and every time it ended without catching one glance at Hitsugaya. Matsumoto always gave Hinamori the same smile and said the said speech about Hitsugaya working hard, but every time she would brush it off with a smile of her own, chuckle it off with a simple "of course," and leave without another word.

As sad as it was, it was part of her routine that he'd ignore her too. It was their reciprocal agreement that broke her heart. At least until she told herself that she didn't have a right to be broken hearted over Toshiro, anyways. And then she'd tell herself she didn't have a right to call him that, either.

So as Hinamori stood in front of the 10th division door, she knocked twice against the wooden frame and waited. And waited and waited. But Matsumoto didn't come to the door, so she knocked again, louder this time. Her heart started beating faster. But after a minute of waiting and still Matsumoto-less, Hinamori realized that she was probably left sprawled across her desk, passed out from over alcohol use and told her heart to stop beating like that.

So after coming to this realization, she knew that the only way to deliver the folder would be to go in. Hinamori rested her hand against the door. Her brow pressed together in concentration; she pushed it open and stepped in and looked around. Matsumoto wasn't in sight. Her heart started beating faster.

Of course! She should've realized it sooner, around this time Matsumoto stumbles out of bed too, she sometimes meets Ichigo on their path to the office and stops by to great Momo in the morning. There was no reason for her heart to beat faster than normal. Everything was normal, it was routine after all. She'd just wait here until Matsumoto came in, no problem; it'd be just a few moments until that door would open.

But then something went horribly wrong. A loud thump came from the door to her right and footsteps moved closer and closer to Momo. They seemed to be in synch with her erratic heart which was pounding harder and faster. The sound was coming closer with every thump against the floor. She could swear she heard a voice boom something about a disrupting noise, but that was impossible. She was the only one close by. Anything remotely disrupting couldn't be from anything but her. And why would someone be there. It couldn't be, it couldn't.

Momo knew that something was horribly wrong. But then the footsteps stopped altogether and her heart halted with it as the door slid open to reveal a slightly annoyed Toshiro Hitsugaya.


End file.
